1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical terminal having a mating first end and a conductor engaging second end and in particular to an electrical terminal in which the second end is of the insulation displacing type and is coated with a layer of insulation material on at least a portion thereof.
2. The Prior Art
There are many well known electrical terminals which can be used in an insulation displacing fashion to make electrical connection with multi-conductor cable of the flat or round conductor type. Examples of some of these known terminals can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,189,863; 3,444,506; and 3,820,055. While such terminals have received wide acceptance in the electrical industries, it is well known that they are not suitable for all applications. For example, the termination of a shielded multi-conductor cable causes particular problems in that the shielding must be removed in the area of the termination in order to prevent the known terminals from shorting between the conductors and the shielding. The current technique for terminating such cable is a costly and slow procedure which requires the insulation to be removed from the cable at the point of termination and on the side adjacent the shielding. This exposes a portion of the shielding which is then removed and the cable terminated in conventional fashion. However, this technique has the additional undesirable characteristic of deteriorating the electrical characteristics of the cable when the shield is removed.
The known terminals such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,816,818 and 3,930,708 act in what could be termed a linear displacement fashion with the axis of the conductor lying in the plane of the contact, contrary to lying transversely of the contact as with the previously discussed terminals. These linear displacement terminals are generally mounted on very close center lines so that there is a danger that a tine of a terminal could be displaced so as to inadvertently short with an adjacent conductor.